Emergency slide



May 15, 1934. D. H. YAKE 1,958,877

EMERGENCY SLIDE Filed April 18, 1930 INVENT R Day/d ff be Patented May15, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Application April 18,

2 Claims.

lhis invention relates to improvements in emergency slides or escapes,such as are used on derricks or other high structures to enable theworkmen to slide down a cable to safety, thereby escaping from danger.Such emergency slides are used considerably on oil well derricks as ameans of escape for the derrick men in event of danger from fire orexplosion. Although derricks are provided with ladders or stairs, when afire breaks out, such means of escape are almost always enveloped inflames, which cut off the escape of men on the derrick. For this reasonresort is had to an emergency slide to enable the man or men on thederrick to slide down the cable to the ground. The slide is in the formof a carriage that runs down the cable, but such slides are notgenerally satisfactory. They are provided with means for resisting thepassage of the cable through the carriage so as to prevent the carriagefrom carrying its burden at too great a speed. In

other words, they are provided with means for preventing too great anacceleration as the carriage moves toward the ground. Sometimes themeans on the carriage for resisting the movement of the carriage causesthe carriage to jam and throw the man off of the carriage.

One of the objections to such carriages or emergency slides as nowconstructed is that they cannot be quickly applied to the cable. In somecases the men provided with such slides are careless in regard to themand do not mount them on the cable before the emergency occurs, and whenit does occur there is insufficient time to place the slide on thecable.

The general object of this invention is to overcome these difiicultiesand to provide an emergency slide of simple construction which can bequickly attached to the cable without necessitating passing the cableendwise through the carriage; also to provide an emergency slide forthis purpose having simple means for preventing too great anacceleration as the carriage descends on the cable.

Further objects of the invention will appear hereinafter.

The invention consists of the novel parts and combination of parts to bedescribed hereinafter, all of which contribute to produce an eificientemergency slide.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is described in the followingspecification, while the broad scope of the invention is pointed out inthe appended claims.

In the drawing:

Figure l is a side elevation of an emergency 1930, Serial No. 445,283

slide embodying my invention and representing the same mounted on acable, indicated as attached to the side of a derrick.

Figure 2 is an end elevation of the slide from its lower end, and thisview may be considered a section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Figure 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2, but showing the slide in an openposition enabling same to be applied to the cable by a lateral movement.

Before proceeding to .a more detailed description of the invention, itshould be stated that in applying an emergency slide as commonlyconstructed, to a cable, it is necessary to pass the cablelongitudinally through the slide. According to my invention, I constructthe slide in the form of a carriage which is capable of being opened soas to enable it to be applied by a lateral movement to the cable.

I also provide the carriage with rollers to run on the cable and guidethe carriage on it. In addition to this, I provide a brake for engagingthe side of the cable, and this brake is hand-controlled so that the manriding the slide can control his speed of descent. The brake preferablyoperates by forming a slight kink in the cable as it passes through thecarriage. This enables the resistance to movement of the carriage alongthe cable to be nicely controlled, and without causing injury to thecable by abrading it. Such injury is sometimes caused by the emergencyslides as now constructed.

Referring more particularly to the parts, 1 represents an inclinedcable, the upper end of which is attached to an I-bolt 2 on the side ofa derrick or other structure, the side of which is indicated at 3. Theemergency slide 4 is in the form of a carriage consisting of anelongated body having an upper body section 411 and a lower body section4?). These body sections are hingedly connected so as to enable thecarriage to be opened up as indicated in Fig. 3, to apply to the cableby lateral movement.

The body section 4a is preferably formed of a pair of oppositelydisposed plates 5 (see Fig. 3) which are bolted together by bolts 6 andheld at a fixed distance from each other by spacers '7, said spacersbeing in the form of sleeves received over the bolts and carrying a pairof rollers 8 to seat against the upper side of the cable. The lowersection 427 of the carriage similarly comprises two spaced plates 9connected by bolts 10, carrying between them spacers 11 carrying rollers12 for engaging the under side of the cable. The rollers 8 of the uppersection are preferably disposed nearer together than the other rollersand collO operate with them to guide the cable in a substantiallystraight line through the carriage. The plates 5 and the plates 9 aresubstantially the same distance apart, so that when the carriage is inits closed position (see Fig. 2), the plates on each side of thecarriage will lie in the same plane. The body sections are connectedtogether by one or more hinges 13 which enable the carriage to be openedup readily as indicated.

The carriage is provided with means for latching it in its closedposition, and this means is preferably constructed so that it can bevery quickly applied. For this purpose one of the body sections, forexample, the lower body section 41), is provided with a latch plate 14that is secured to the outer side of one of the side plates 9, and thisplate projects across the outer face of the adjacent plate 5 (see Fig.1). The two plates 5 have alining bolt holes 15 which aline with acorresponding bolt hole 16 formed in the projecting portion of the latchplate 14. The carriage is secured in its closed position by a latch pinor bolt 17 which fits into these alining holes 15 and 16, being securedat its butt end to a ring 18 carried on a chain 19. The inner end of thepin has a tapered tip 20 that facilitates its being passed through thealined openings, and this tip is pivotally attached to the body of thebolt by across pin 21. This cross pin permits the tip 20 of the bolt toswing sidewise after the pin has been put in position (see Fig. 2),thereby locking the parts in position.

The carriage is provided with means for supporting the body of theperson who uses the slide to escape on the cable. Any suitable means maybe provided for this purpose. In the present instance, I provide ahangerincluding a link 22 suspended on a suitable bolt 23 on thecarriageattached to one of the body sections, so that the hanger canswing on the bolt substantially in the plane of the cable; and this link22 supports a large ring 2 4 which is of sufiiciently large diameter toenable the man that rides the slide to stick his leg through the same upto his thigh. V

In order to enable the speed of the carriage to be controlled as itdescends on the cable, I prefer to provide a hand-operated brake 25consisting of a lever pivoted on a bolt 26 mounted between the sideplates of the lower bodysection and provided with a handle 27 which canbe seized by the man riding the slide. This lever has a short arm 28carrying a roller 29 which engages the under side of the'cable in such away that it can press the cableup'wardly, as indicated by the dottedline in Fig. 1. In other words, the roller 29 may form a'kink in thecable between the rollers 8 of the upper body section.

If desired, the emergency slide can be set up on the cable '1 ready foruse. For this purpose it maybe supported on a chain 30 anchored at itsupper end on an I-bolt 31 attached in the side of the derrick, the lowerend of the chain being provided with a hook 32 which can be readily castloose from a ring 33 on the upper end of the carriage.

The mode of operation of the slide will now be briefly restated. Byswinging the body sections 4a and 4b on their hinge connection 13, thecarriage can be opened up as indicated in Fig. 3, so as to enable it tobe passed laterally onto the cable. After the body sections have beenmoved into their closed positions as indicated in Figs. 1 and 2, thelatch pin 17 is thrust through the alining holes 15 and 16, therebylatching the carriage in its closed position. In using the slide, beforethe rider gets on it, he should pull it up slightly so as to develop alittle slack in the chain 30. He can then get into the ring 24, whileholding the lever 25 pulled down hard, sothat the slide will bear hisweight without starting to descend. After he is safely in the ring, therider can cast off the chain and then ease up on the lever to enable theslide to gravitate down the cable.

If the speed'of the slide becomes too great for safety the rider on theslide can pull down on the lever 25 to apply the braking effect moreforcibly to the cable.

It is understood that the embodiment of the invention described hereinis only one of the many embodiments this invention may take, and I donot wish to be limited in the practice of the invention, nor in theclaims, to the particular embodiment set forth.

I claim:

1. In an emergency slide for use on an inclined cable, the combinationof a carriage having a pair of guide rollers riding respectively aboveand below the cable, a second pair of guide rollers riding respectivelyabove and below the cable, and longitudinally spaced from said firstpair of rollers, means for supporting a person on the carriage, 'andrneans for controlling the speed of descent of the carriagedown thecable comprising a single roller, a lever pivoted on the carriage forsupporting the roller in a position to engage the underside of the cablebetween the said pairs of longitudinally spaced rollers and deflect thesame so that the resistance to bending of the cable resists the descentof the carriage, said lever having a handle arm extending in a generalhorizontal direction and project'mg toward the elevated end of thecable.

2. In an emergency slide for use on an inclined cable, the combinationof a carriage having a pair of guide rollers riding respectively aboveand'below the cable, a second'pair of guide rollers the carriage'downthe cable comprising a'single I roller, a lever pivoted'on the carriagefor supporting the roller in a position to engage the underside of thecable between the said pairs of longitudinally spaced rollers anddeflect thesame so that the resistance to bending of the cable'resists'the descent of the carriage, said-lever having a'handle armextending in a general horizontal direction so as to enable the rider tosupport a part of his weight onthe lever.

DAVID H. YAKE.

